Thursday, May 29, 2014

the mullies kitchen diaries: me + tommy + sweet potato gnocci



this was just too much fun.

i've made sweet potato gnocchi before, almost a perfect year ago (why i haven't made for awhile i have no idea)... here is an old post from last june when i made it without the food processor.  the food processor sure makes a gorgeous smooth and creamy consistency!  my girlfriend briana has a wickedly tasty version that is stuffed with manchego cheese (swoon).






there are so many great gnocci recipes out there and this one here was made with gumption... NO RECIPE OUT!  just my memory.  no guts no glory.  i did not carefully measure anything... so guess what?  you don't have to either:)

the mullies sweet potato gnocchi

2 lbs organic sweet potatoes (pierce with a fork and roast whole on a cookie sheet for 45 min at 375)
2 eggs
4 cloves garlic minced
3/4 tsp nutmeg (eyeballed)
1 tsp sea salt (eyeballed)
pinch of white pepper

-wiz above ingredients in a food processor until super smooth and creamy (orangy and luscious).  dump in a large bowl and mix in 4 cups gf flour.  since it was still too wet, i added around another cup until i got a slightly tacky dough to the touch (5 cups total?). (since there are a lot of flour options out there you just have to go with the feel and touch of the dough.)  cover your surface with a dusting of flour, roll out some logs and have a party with your smooshy balls.  boil up some salted water.  plop them in and when they float to the top, they are done!  use a slotted spoon to get them out of the boiling water.  it took about three batches.

we made these in the morning, so i placed my cookie sheets in the fridge until dinner time.

fresh sage and ghee sauce
recipe inspo found here
4 T ghee (or grass fed butter)
juice from a half lemon
8 sage leaves from our kitchen garden

melt the oil in a pan for a few minutes (i heated it up for too long and had a volcano of hot lava spitting at me... don't do that).  remove from heat and add the leaves and lemon juice. pour over the smooshy balls and mix it all up nice and pretty.


season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  topped it off with some lovely raw, 12 month old manchego (sheep's) cheese.

the mullies kitchen diaries = cooking with my family and friends.  the plethora of cookbooks, the massive culinary talent and inspiration out there is mine to experiment with and learn from... i'll never run out of material with jamie and his foodtube & drinkstube out there:)  the global food revolution is my home and my niche is testing out sweet recipes, sharing the moments, the loveliness of cooking with your kids... the hilarity, the music, the pain.in.the.ass.moments which capture the reality of us, of the current generation of parents getting back into our kitchens and the massive task teaching our kids to do the same.  i am a food patriot and i hope to help bring back the energy, the spark and the enjoyment (+ frustrations) of "from scratch cooking" mixed in with the grocery shopping, the adventures in gardening and the escapades of eating out.  

and with that said...

here's how dinner turned out!




my parents brought over freshly grilled fish and white wine.  i made my grandma millie's cucumber salad and roasted broccoli (a fam favorite).  above is a picture capturing tommy scooping up his 3rd helping.  did he eat more because he made it with me or because the gnocchi was just.that.good?  i think it was a little of both;)  it's so fun to eat smooshy balls!


ps

after dinner, the boys made these for me.  it's made the food matrix we've escaped from so very worth it... so.very.lovely.indeed.


pps

next up, my visit to a student showcase with the food patriots.  i have never been more inspired by food education and what could be in store for our lake county schools!!


Thursday, May 15, 2014

rock & roll to the beet for #FRD2014 - good luck jamie and our global team!!!


so i thought i wasn't going to post anything until after FRD... but then i made a latte this morning and decided to get funky with my phone again.  trrrrrrrrrrouble.

let's get cooking with jamie and the 9000+ schools that will be joining him to break a world record!  it'll be live tomorrow at 8am CST here.  clearly, i'm not excited at all... :)  make sure you sign up for food revolution day and shout out your participation by using #FRD2014!

a major shout out to lake county's stevenson high school as they will be joining in the rainbow warp cooking festivas led by ambassador christina erickson and gourmet foods teacher sara lohrmann.  rock it out for lake county girls!!

see the rest of you at the all ways healthy #FRD2014 festival tomorrow and saturday!! 

xoxo

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

what are YOU doing for food revolution day?









we are in 6th gear for food revolution week here in lake county!  we had so.much.fun cooking the rainbow salad wrap up with our kiddos and we hope that after this #FRD2014, you are inspired to do a little more chop chop in your kitchen too.

food ambassador christina erickson and i have quite a week planned and here is our starting line up:

1st up:

wednesday, may 14th - a food patriots screening at stevenson highschool!  sara lohrman's gourmet food class has prepared quite a spread for us and i cannot wait to taste their delicious food!  filmmakers jennifer and jeff spitz will be on hand to discuss the movie afterwards and announce our new joint campaign to bring food patriots and their student engagement program to every school in lake county. can't make it but want to donate to the outreach program too?  well, you can just go here my dears.

it's pretty darn exciting.



2nd up:
all ways healthy presents:  a free 2-day food revolution day festival! 

and check out this sweet suntimes article highlighting what christina and her co-worker sara lohrmann are doing at stevenson high school on friday -  ROCKSTARS!!

check out our festival flyer and schedule!  i'm so excited that two local food ambassadors are joining us on saturday!  i cannot wait to see sarvin haghighi (chicago) and katy vodicka (lisle)!!!!




helllerrrrrs, i'm gonna learn so much stuff!


2.5 up:
FRD dinner and a movie night! come on, you need a date night and why not celebrate with us!?

the RSVP is closing down tomorrow night 5/14, so pick up your phone and dial fast:) or RSVP online here.  jennifer and jeff will be dining and discussing the film with us and you do NOT want to miss julio's most excellent cooking: **ticket price includes tax and tip which is pretty snazzy indeed** 


last but not least, i'm prepping up some pretty sweet rainbow wrap kits this week.  it's your kiddo's first cooking kit!  it includes everything your child (or yourself... ) needs to make a rainbow wrap (minus the food).  my parent's basement is completely trashed and here's where i'm at with them so far...  i can't wait till they're all cellophaned wrapped and tied with a pretty red bow.  we'll be selling these for $35 at the festival and i've only made 48 of them so come grab them while they are still around!


i can't wait to see you ALL for #FRD2014!

...and i'll see you again after the dust has settled:)  should have some super fun stuff to recap!!




ps

here's my fab mother's day recap:





at the race track with my chimmie and her superstar engineering husband's race team.  i got to meet their new rookie driver jack hawksworth and not only is he the most talented driver ever... he's british, so of course he's gonna win the indy 500.  he's the best thing that has ever happened to indy car.  i'm not biased at all.

and then i got home just in time to put in my purple boat and celebrate with my lovely mom.



to the mullies we gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

xoxo








Tuesday, May 6, 2014

#FRD2014 Rainbow Wrap Your Kids


i made that sucker on my iphone... can you believe IT!?  that toy is my joy... and mac tells me almost everyday to put it in our phone jail.  point needed and taken... :)

you can find the rainbow wrap recipe here at www.foodrevolutionday.com with loads of other recipes to try out with your kids!

when i was thinking about doing this video, i originally wanted to do it to this song... hence the goober pics of me touching my girlfriends with my red spoon to spark them UP.  well, when i put the music to it, with all of us smiling like fairy-food-godmothers, mac was sitting next to me: we looked at each other with our brows furrowed and he so eloquently stated, "mom, this is NOT going to work... it's way to hard core..."  

so i started marinating on another song choice and remembered the free songs for a healthier america album that i downloaded for last year's food day 2013 in october (i played the songs in my kids' school lunch periods for our big apple crunch).  i literally started jumping in the driver's seat of my van when i got to "stronger"... i new immediately that it was my golden child.  what a hip album for kids and what better way to get them thinking about moving and eating better together in the kitchen!!!

megan and stacey are my red-headed wonder twin girlfriends.  they brought their kids (6 in total) and christina (the other half of lake country food revolution) brought her two girls.  together with my three rug rats, we had a party of 11 and they all rotated in and out, stayed when they wanted to, left when they wanted to.  the boys were the most interested which rocked our worlds.  megan took the majority of the pictures (her photography skills kill me) and we took turns picking up my iphone to get video here and there.  i think we all share the same brain sometimes!

all three ladies are teachers.  meg and stace are elementary school teachers and christina is a high school gourmet food teacher and clothing design teacher.  they were with me for the very.first.cooking.video (their brother paul put that one together for me!) which still gives me goose bumps when i watch it...  the song, the ages of our kids, the beginning of it all... they are pretty special gals and i'm so lucky & happy to be spreading our energy for food education together!! 

more than anything, i hope this video inspires you to cook with your kids more often... to get messy, to experiment and to connect in the kitchen.  start with one day a week and see where it takes you:)  i'd love to hear how it goes!!!  and just remember, even thought this night was a huge success, i've had plenty that have blown.up.in.the.face so stick with it and you'll get what you're looking for... i promise!  
we hope to see you at one of our lake county food revolution day events next week!

xoxo